Housekeeping Services to IIITDM Not Exempt from GST being unrelated to Sanitation/Solid Waste Management: AAR [Read Order]
The company had been awarded a contract to provide housekeeping staff at IIITDM.
Housekeeping - services - taxscan
Housekeeping - services - taxscan
The Tamil Nadu Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has held that housekeeping and cleaning services provided to the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM), Kancheepuram, are not exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The authority clarified that such services cannot be equated with sanitation or solid waste management services, which enjoy exemption under GST notifications.
The case was initiated by M/s. Srinacss Enviro Private Limited, Madurai, a service provider engaged in environmental and facility management services, including sanitation, cleaning, gardening, and security. The company had been awarded a contract to provide housekeeping staff at IIITDM.
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Following the Ministry of Finance’s Notification No. 13/2023-CT(Rate) dated 19 October 2023, IIITDM wrote to the applicant stating that services rendered to them were exempt, and requested invoices to be raised without GST.
The applicant approached the AAR to confirm whether its services qualified for exemption under the said notification and whether the applicant can lawfully raise an invoice without Goods and Services Tax (GST Invoice) for housekeeping services to IIITDM.
The AAR bench, comprising Balakrishna S (Member, CGST) and B. Suseel Kumar (Member, SGST), examined the matter in detail. It noted that the exemption under Notification 13/2023 applies only to services provided to a “Governmental Authority” relating to water supply, public health, sanitation conservancy, solid waste management, and slum improvement.
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The authority observed that while IIITDM is an Institute of National Importance established by the Government of India, it is not a “Governmental Authority” carrying out functions entrusted to a Municipality or Panchayat under Articles 243W and 243G of the Constitution. Instead, it is a higher educational institution set up to promote technical education and research.
Further, the services rendered by the applicant to IIITDM were found to be limited to housekeeping and manpower supply for cleaning within the campus. The AAR stressed that such activities do not fall under the ambit of sanitation conservancy or solid waste management. Those terms refer to municipal functions such as drainage, waste collection from households, processing, and disposal for the general public, not to private institutional cleaning contracts.
The authority also reviewed Entry 66 of Notification No. 12/2017-CT(Rate), which exempts cleaning or housekeeping services provided to educational institutions. However, the exemption is restricted to institutions offering pre-school or education up to higher secondary school level. Since IIITDM is a higher education institute, this benefit was also held inapplicable.
It was thus ruled that Housekeeping/cleaning services provided to IIITDM are not exempt from GST and the work is classified purely as housekeeping and does not fall under sanitation or solid waste management.
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